Press illustrator

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A press draftsman uses one of the visual arts - mainly drawing and painting - to document current events for print media such as newspapers and magazines . His profession is closely related to that of the illustrator and caricaturist .

Job profile press illustrator

Auguste Piccard's diving ball, by Theo Matejko , 1937
Press drawing in coal technology of a traffic accident by Helmuth Ellgaard , 1951

With the emergence of the current weekly and daily press in the middle of the 19th century , it became necessary to depict events in addition to the editorial text. A draftsman or illustrator was hired for this. The photographic technology was still too slow and not technically mature enough to fulfill this task. The press illustrator had his heyday during the first half of the 20th century . His tools were primarily the pencil , the charcoal and the sketch pad . The press illustrator often did his own research on site and then took on the role of journalist . Press illustrators were an integral part of the reporting; the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung , for example, had several press illustrators , including Theo Matejko , Hans Liska and Helmuth Ellgaard .

The skilful press illustrator was able to artistically emphasize the essential aspects of current events and present them more dramatically than photo , film and television can often do today . However, the objectivity sometimes fell by the wayside.

During the world wars, the press illustrator was placed in the government's propaganda service. War correspondents and propaganda troops had the task of reporting what was happening at the front and "beautifying" the reality for the readers.

In the 1950s , the German press drawing had its last climax. The newly created magazines such as Revue , “Neue” , Quick and Kristall had their own press illustrators, although the long-established press photography increasingly took over the work of press illustrators.

With the current television came the end of the press drawing. The mining disaster Lengede illustrated Helmuth Ellgaard still on his way, while the ZDF made his first direct broadcast reportage on site. The last relic is the profession of court draftsman , as photo and television cameras are not permitted in German courtrooms.

Quotes

  • From the foreword to the Theo Matejko book:

" ... The camera can capture a thousandth part of a second and freeze the atom of a frenzied movement. No movement freezes under Theo Matejko's hand - it seems to continue in space, seems to increase in momentum and speed ... "

  • From the foreword to the book "war draftsman":

" ... As long as the artistic experience reports - whether with the pen or the word - are missing, the war reporting is incomplete ... "

  • Georg Böse from the book "The German Press Drawing 1951":

"... There you both sit opposite each other, the press draftsman and the editor, as if the world should be redistributed. The world: That is the place in the newspapers and magazines for which text and image argue and cheap photography is not to be mentioned; it has played itself in the foreground in the German newspapers, even where a distinguished typographical look and feel was desired. I mean your silent sister: the drawing. She has a difficult position in the press ... "

and

" ... Are we in such a hurry, have we become so fleeting, so short of breath, that we let our draftsmen be outdone by the quick reporters? Do they disturb us in the crush of upheaval, in which we have to sacrifice valuable space for their sake? .. . "

  • Helmuth Ellgaard, German press illustrator:

" The shortest way from the brain to paper is through the coal. "

Well-known press illustrator

Some well-known German or German-speaking press illustrators sorted by year of birth.

literature

  • The Theo Matejko book, Kommodore-Verlag, Berlin
  • War draftsman, Kanter-Verlag, Königsberg
  • The German press drawing 1951, Journalists Association Württemberg-Baden EV